Kubuntu is well designed, but a bit top-heavy on eye candy for my taste. The Gnome version is a good compromise, plenty of functionality without the KDE bloat.

Xfce is positively sprightly compared to Kubuntu, requires a little more work by the user, but is practical on lower specified machines. Ubuntu derived distributions benefit from extensive repositories and plenty of community support, having said that, I was underwhelmed by the recent releases of Ubuntu and I am still running 7.04, instead of 7.10 or the latest Alpha (Hardy Heron). Still a good choice to start with.

MEPIS is an interesting variety, set-up is very easy, quick, just point and click with good hardware support.

For a faster alternative try, AntiX, a cut down but fully serviceable version of MEPIS. AntiX is based on Fluxbox with IceMW thrown in for free. Fast and usable. It had no problems with my strange wireless set-up. Recommended.

My current favourite is Midiflux, which is based on PCLinuxOS, a Mandrake off-shoot, and TinyMe. Midiflux is small, very fast but will run KDE applications if needed; it is an excellent compromise between practical application support and small size. It takes about 10 minutes to install, however, Midiflux is still beta. Installation is simple, although I think that MEPIS’s installation is slightly more polished, just boot up the Live CD and click on the Install icon.

Years ago if you wanted to study the Far Right, neo-Nazis or Jew haters it was difficult, you had to purchase, preferably indirectly, their literature and look out for the recurring genocidal themes and expressions of hatred, along came the Internet.

The web made it much easier, scanning newsgroups was a piece of cake, and if you have the stomach you could even visit their web sites, although the spectacle of swastikas and Nazi paraphernalia normally limited such trips, unless your stomach was particularly strong.

But time moves on and so does the Far Right, instead of trawling disgusting web sites their ideas are closer to home, at the Guardian’s Comment is Free.

Such a change isn’t to be welcomed but it is noticeable, and more so when Guardian readers have to express a degree of empathy with the victims of Nazi persecution.

You might suppose that the Guardian as a liberal newspaper, with a largely liberal and university educated readership would be the last place that you would find excessive levels of anti-Jewish racism, nevertheless that is the case, as a recent article by Stephen Smith on the Holocaust indicates.

That attitude, although not fully articulated, implies that one, that other people’s human rights are of lesser value when they conflict with our own daily lives or an organisation close to our heart (in this case, the NHS). Secondly, it is interesting to see how often the NHS is viewed as a scarce resource and how some form of utilitarianism should be employed to preserve it, without addressing the real issues.

The thread at HP provoked some heated discussion, look out for Mettaculture’s contributions, he said all that I could wish to say and much more, with far greater eloquence, his posts are always worth a read.